The riverside frontage of the Houses of Parliament is possibly the most widely recognised icon for the United Kingdom. What is now on view from Westminster Bridge or the Albert Embankment across the river replaced a Palace that had been severely damaged by fire. It is the work of Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) and this 872ft long facade is as it was at his death. He worked in collaboration with August Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52) who had particular involvement with the decoration of the interior. When he died his son Edward was appointed to complete several parts of the interior and the north and east frontages.
Charles was very much a local lad and not a fortunate one. He was born in Bridge Street, Westminster, to a father who was a stationer and who died, seven years after his wife, when Charles was 10. So his schooling was slight. However he had artistic talent. A drawing he made of Westminster Hall was in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1812. He did get a small legacy. So, from 1817-20, with that and further funds from a fellow traveller, he toured Europe, particularly France, Italy and Greece, and the Middle East including Syria and Egypt. Throughout, he diligently studied and sketched the many great architectural and monumental structures he saw. In 1820 he started entering for several of the open competitions of which there were a considerable number at that time. He developed a significant reputation and considerable practice over the next ten years.
The Commission, created in 1835 to judge the competition for the design of a building to accommodate the Houses of Parliament, had in their terms of reference only to consider submissions in the Gothic or Elizabethan style. The term 'Gothic' was understood, and exemplified by the neighbouring Abbey. The term 'Elizabethan' was less clearly defined. Barry's design was the unanimous selection as the winner. He spent the rest of his life on this project with no opportunity to do any other work but had to respond almost daily to some parliamentarian, civil servant or committee. The MP's believed control was best exercised when they could 'pay the architect as little as possible, as infrequently as possible and with as much fuss as possible'. They were considerably fortunate that the winner of the competition selected by a group of amateur architects had the architectural and organisational abilities as well as the determination, diplomatic skills, stamina and longevity to see it largely completed. There were not often many parliamentarians who would openly support him. The foundation stone was laid by his wife. There was a completely independent committee that determined what paintings and sculpture should be commissioned to be placed about the building. He had to cope with the appointment of a Doctor Reid whom the MP's thought should be responsible for the ventilation arrangements for the Palace. Reid was a vigorous promoter of the idea that cholera was born by vapours and could be countered by ventilation. His changes to the temporary chamber the Commons used after 1834 had lessened the appalling stench of the Thames sewage. Barry battled Reid's vague proposals for five years before an independent, expert arbitrator scathingly dismissed them. A result is a number of turrets that were proposed but never actually used as ventilators. These problems were aside from those of a massive construction project built on the sandy shore of an islet in a tidal river. The main plan is some 870 x 300ft, the Victoria Tower at the south end is 323ft high, Reid's central ventilation tower is 300ft high and the Westminster Clock Tower (containing 'Big Ben') is 316ft and the building is said to have used 750,000 cubic feet of stone. There are many things about and within it that are exquisite. The collection on Sir Barry's death to fund the commissioning of a sculpture to be placed in the Palace as a memorial raised only some £50.00 from the entire membership of the Commons and their lordships.
Edward Middleton Barry (1830-80), Sir Charles' second son, was appointed by the Parliamentary Committees to succeed his father in the completion of some unfinished items. This he continued with for ten years until the Office of Works dismissed him, whilst insisting he surrender to them his father's drawings. His main concerns were decorative but these are some of the best of the decorations: the robing room, which is occasionally used when both Houses gather to be addressed by a visiting dignitary; and the Chapel of Saint Mary Undercroft also termed the Crypt Chapel, which is in regular use for services to those who work in the palace and can be used for MP's marriages or the baptisms and marriages of their children. He did also have to complete the structures, staircase and cloister, leading from Old Palace Yard to the Robing room which provide for the Royal progress of the monarch to the Parliament Chamber. The only substantial particular construction he was entirely responsible for was the colonnade that bounds New Palace Yard on the east.

O/S Co-ords:3030.7950
Source(s):

Westminster Palace and Parliament